Taming of the Shrew, The

Synopsis: Condensed version of The Taming of the Shrew concentrating on the wooing and winning of Katharina by Petruchio. Ball (op cit. p. 286) is underwhelmed by the film finding the camera stationary, the acting too theatrical and over-burdened with intertitles. He notes...`the effect is both over-literary and uncinematic, especially in the crowded first reel. Inaudible speeches usually supersede the function of the camera, and except for the cross-cutting there is hardly a trace of recognition of the true nature of the motion picture medium’.
Series: Gems of Literature
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release: 1923
Duration: 22 mins; 2,022 feet

Director

Edwin J. Collins

Producer

Edward Godal

Writer

William Shakespeare

Cast

Notes: The BFI National Archive holds a complete preservation copy (2,022ft) but only 939ft (10 mins) of viewing material (7/2007).
General: A good example of many cheap short films based on literary classics that were made in Britain in the 1920s by the many producers who could not afford to make full-length feature films.
Reviews: Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (p284-6, 377). Barbara Hodgdon, The Shakespeare Trade: Performances and Appropriations. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. (p. 10-1). Hodgdon believes the intertitles function as an authoritative male voice.

British Universities Film & Video Council